The 1000 marbles
The older i get , the more i enjoy saturday morning.
Perhaps its the quiet solitute that ones with being the first to rise,or maybe its the unbounded joy of not having to be at work.
Either way , the first few hours of saturday morning are most enjoyable.
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the backyard patio with a steaming cup of coffe in one hand and the morning paper in the other.What began as atypical saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.
Let me tell you about it.
I turned the dial up to listen to a Saturday morning talk show i heard an older sounding gentlemen,with a golden voice.You know the kind,he sounded like he should be with broadcasting business.He was telling whoever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles".I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.
"Well", Tom , it sure sounds like youre busy with your job.Im sure they pay you well but its shame you have to be away from home and your family so much.Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.Too bad you missed your daughter 's recital".
He continued" let me tell you something tom,something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities. And thats when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles".
"You see,I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic.The average person lives about seventy five years .I know, some live more and some live less.,but on average,folks live about seventy five years.Now then,I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime".
Now stick with me Tom.Im getting to the important part.It took me until I was fifty five years old to think about all this in any detail,he went on and by that time I had lived through over twenty eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if lived to be seventy five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.So I went to a toy store and bougth every single marble they had.I ended up having to visit three toy store to round up 1000 marbles.I took them home and put them inside of a large,clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.Every Saturday since then.I have taken one marble out and thrown it away."
I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight .Now let me tell you one last thing before I signed off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast.This morning ,I think the very last marble out of the container.I figure if I make it until next saturday then i have been given a little extra time.And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.
It was nice to meet you tom .I hope you speend more time with your family , and hoe to meet you again .
You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off.I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.I had planned to work that morning ,Instead , I went uptairs and woke up my wife up with a kiss.
C'mon honey, Im taking you and the kids to breakfast".
What brought this on? She asked with a smile, oh nothing special , Its just been a while since we spent a Saturday together witj the kids , Hey ,can we stop at a toy store while were out? .I need to buy some marbles.
As i read this story ,I came to realized that we should give time for our family and love ones .. because life is so short we never know it will end up.......